Supporting the Residual Memory of a Korsakoff Patient

Abstract

The memory functioning of a 31-year-old Korsakoff syndrome patient was assessed in his everyday environment and in the laboratory and a programme devised to support residual memory capacity. The patient's wife was used as a monitor of input and retrieval conditions and taught how to seek situations in which her husband would be least impaired. Prompt cards and leaflets were provided for acquaintances in order to reduce the memory demands of the patient's environment. Follow-up at 1 year showed that although tested memory functioning deteriorated, the patient's memory support system had continued. Additionally, an experiment demonstrated that retrieval could be boosted significantly by presentation of associative cues at storage and retrieval. These findings were used to guide further change in the way the patient's wife managed his memory impairments.